What is Retired Out Rule in Cricket? Which IPL Players Have Retired Out So Far?
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and Mumbai Indians (MI) faced off in Match 16 of the current IPL (Indian Premier League) 2025. On April 4, the two teams faced off in Lucknow’s Ekana Stadium. After winning the toss, the Mumbai Indians started the game by bowling first. With Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram, and David Miller batting first, Lucknow scored 203 runs in the first innings. LSG performed brilliantly with the ball, getting wickets promptly and keeping the pressure on the five-time winners as they attempted to protect the score.
Tilak Varma and Suryakumar Yadav were both left to bear the burden of the run chase. Tilak Varma struggled to get off the mark and played a poor innings of 25 runs in 23 deliveries, while on the other hand, Surya was routinely hitting boundaries. Tilak was subsequently retired out.
What is retired out in cricket?
According to ICC rules, a batter may withdraw at any moment during the innings after alerting the umpires that the ball is dead.
If a batter retires for any reason other than illness, injury, or other unavoidable circumstances, the batter’s innings may only be continued with the permission of the opposing captain. If his or her innings cannot be completed, the batter is declared retired out.
What does the law state regarding retiring out?
According to the law, a batsman is deemed to have retired out if he leaves the field without the umpire’s consent and lacks the opposing captain’s approval to continue his innings.
If the batsman does not return, he is recorded as ‘retired out,’ which is treated as a dismissal when calculating his batting average.’
This is different from being “retired hurt,” where the player leaves due to injury and may return later.
What is retired out rule in IPL?
- The phrase “retired out” is seen as a dismissal in IPL as well as cricket.
- It is forbidden for the player to get back in the game.
- In the scorecard, it is shown as a dismissal.
List of Players retired out in IPL
It is noteworthy that Tilak Varma and Devon Conway were the fourth and fifth players to retire out in IPL following Sai Sudharsan, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Atharva Taide.
| Player | Match | Venue | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ravichandran Ashwin (RR) | RR vs LSG | Wankhede Stadium | 2022 |
| Atharva Taide (PBKS) | PBKS vs DC | Dharamsala Stadium | 2023 |
| Sai Sudharsan (GT) | GT vs MI | Narendra Modi Stadium | 2023 |
| Tilak Varma (MI) | MI vs LSG | Ekana Stadium | 2025 |
| Devon Conway (CSK) | PBKS vs CSK | Mullanpur Stadium | 2025 |
Here is detailed information about all the players who got retired out in IPL:
Ravichandran Ashwin
While playing for the Rajasthan Royals, Ravichandran Ashwin became the first batsman in IPL history to be strategically retired out. On April 10, the event happened at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium against the Lucknow Super Giants. Ashwin was sent in at No. 6. He scored 28 runs off 23 balls. But after that, he left the field willingly in the 19th over. On Ashwin’s departure, power hitter Riyan Parag entered the scene. During his eight-run short innings, he shot a six. Ashwin later said that the team management had made the decision in advance. He added that such a thing was required in the context of the game.
Atharva Taide
In the 2023 Indian Premier League, Atharva Taide retired during the Punjab Kings‘ chase against the Delhi Capitals at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamsala. After Taide was dismissed for making room for power hitter Jitesh Sharma after he had scored 55 off 42 balls, PBKS needed 86 runs from the final five overs to reach their target of 214. This was the second player retirement in IPL history. Even though Taide led the game in scoring, many thought the decision was made too late, particularly because his strike rate slowed down the chase.
Sai Sudharsan
The Gujarat Titans rising star Sai Sudharsan, was retired out for 43 off 31 balls during the Mumbai Indians IPL 2023 match. Sudharsan became the third player in IPL history to retire at the age of 21, which was an incredible accomplishment. Sudharsan supported a partnership of 138 runs for the second wicket during that match, helping Shubman Gill score 129 off 60. But the Titans chose to bring in Rashid Khan after two quiet overs and the Afghan player immediately hit a boundary.
Tilak Varma
When the Mumbai Indians played the Lucknow Super Giants in the 2025 IPL, Tilak Varma retired. MI was at 86/3 when Tilak arrived on the scene. The left-handed player, however, struggled to play at a higher strike rate, scoring 25 runs off 23 balls. Due to his poor performance, Suryakumar Yadav was put under additional pressure in this case and was eventually dismissed on 67. After the asking rate surpassed fifteen, MI coach Mahela Jayawardene made the decision to retire Tilak with seven balls remaining and twenty-four needed. Mitchell Santner took his place, but MI lost by 12 runs after failing to complete the chase.
Devon Conway
On the 8th of April, 2025, in the match against Punjab Kings, Chennai Super Kings star batter Devon Conway gave his team a fiery start along with Rachin Ravindra, after the departure of Rachin. Conway built a partnership with Shivam Dubey and kept CSK in the game till 14- 15th over; however, PBKS’s bowler started bowling in good areas and pulled the game towards them. The pressure was on the CSK’s batters, and while trying to relieve some pressure from batting, Dubey lost his wicket. Conway was also seen struggling to hit the boundaries, and eventually CSK decided to retire him out in order to increase the current run rate, as required run rate was already over 15 runs per over. Despite this decision, CSK in the end lost the match by 18 runs.
List of Players retired out in cricket
| Player Name | Country | Match Format | Opponent | Year | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shahid Afridi | Pakistan | T20 Domestic (PSL) | Karachi Kings | 2010 | Retired out during PSL for tactical reasons |
| Sonam Tobgay | Bhutan | T20I | Maldives | 2019 | Retired out in a T20I—rare occurrence in international cricket |
| Sunzamul Islam | Bangladesh | Domestic T20 | Not specified | 2021 | Retired out in Bangladesh domestic T20 league |
| Ravichandran Ashwin | India | IPL | Rajasthan Royals vs LSG | 2022 | First instance in IPL history; retired out for strategy |
Other incidents
Shahid Afridi: In a 2010 England tour match against Northamptonshire, former Pakistani hard-hitting batsman Shahid Afridi became the first player to be Retired Out in T20 cricket. When Pakistan reached 61 for the loss of two wickets in the third ball of the eleventh over, Shahid Afridi entered the field to chase a target of 134. He retired in the first delivery of the 15th over to allow Abdul Razzaq some playing time in the middle. Afridi, the former captain of the Pakistani team, had an incredible innings scoring 42 runs off just 14 deliveries,s including two maximums and six boundaries.
Sonam Tobgay: During a group stage match against Maldives during the 2019 South Asian Games, he tactically retired out at the end of the 19th over of the Bhutanese innings after scoring 24 off 35 balls as he was struggling for timing throughout the innings.[10] It became the first instance where a batsman retired out in a T20I match
Sunzamul Islam: Another example is the retired out of Sunzamul Islam of Cumilla Warriors against Chattogram Challengers in the 2019 Bangladesh Premier League. In cricket history, this dismissal is also among the most bizarre. With three runs needed from the final ball to win the game, Dawid Malan was run out in the penultimate ball of the match while chasing a target of 160 runs in 20 overs. In order to face the final ball Sunzamul Islam went into the field, but the team management pulled him back and sent Mujeeb Ur Rahman of Afghanistan.
What is the difference between retired hurt and retired out in cricket?
The main difference between retired hurt and retired out is that a batsman who gets hurt will be allowed to continue his batting in the later stages of the game, while the case is not the same for retired out, as it needs approval from the captain of the opposition team.
Retired hurt has happened several times due to the injuries that occur on the field, while retired out happens rarely like this in a T20 game when the batter feels the lower-order batsman can hit even better than him in the current situation.
